During the tournament there were several surprises: Germany, Italy and Spain were knocked out
during the group stage; the title-holders France were eliminated in
the quarter-finals by unfancied Greece, and the Portuguese hosts
recovered from their opening defeat to reach the final, eliminating
Spain, England and Netherlands along
the way. For the first time, the final featured the same teams as
the opening match, with the hosts losing both of them also for the
first time, as Portugal were beaten by Greece on both occasions.
Greece's triumph was even more outstanding considering that they
had only qualified for two other tournaments, in 1980 and 1994 and their win in the opening
match in 2004 was the first time they had even won a game in a
major tournament.

During the opening ceremony, the Portuguese portrayed a ship,
symbolizing the voyages of the Portuguese explorers, sailing through a sea
which gave place to the flags of all competing countries.[1] Such
was the enthusiasm that overtook the Greek fans that the ship
became the symbol of the Greek victory, as Greeks chanted for the
"Pirate Ship" (πειρατικό), as the Greek National Team was instantly
named.

Qualifying

Qualification for the tournament took place from September 2002
to November 2003. Fifty teams were divided into ten groups of five
and each team played two matches against each other, on a
home-and-away basis. The first-placed teams from each group
qualified automatically and the runners-up took part in a two-match
play-off to select the remaining five teams
that would join the host nation in the final tournament.

Squads

Summary

Group
stage

Group A opened with a shock as Greece, ranked outsiders from
start, defeated the hosts 2-1. Giorgos Karagounis put them ahead
after only seven minutes and Angelos Basinas made it 2-0 from the
penalty spot on 51 minutes. An injury time goal from Cristiano
Ronaldo proved no more than a consolation. The Greeks then drew
with Spain before losing to Russia in their last game. Greece and
Spain finished with identical records but the Greeks were given
second place on the basis of more goals scored. Portugal,
meanwhile, recovered from their opening-game defeat and took first
place in Group A.

France, the holders, and England ended their Group B encounter
in furious fashion as the French scored twice in injury time to go
from 1-0 down to 2-1 winners; Zinedine Zidane scored in the first
minute of injury time and two minutes later, an error by the
English defence gave a France penalty and Zidane fired in the
winner. England's other two games were memorable for the
performances of their young star Wayne Rooney. Only 18 at the time,
Rooney's goal-scoring ability proved instrumental in victories over
Switzerland (3-0) and Croatia (4-2). England and France qualified
from the group.

Group C featured a bizarre three-way tie between Sweden,
Denmark, and Italy for first spot. All matches between the three
sides had ended in draws and all three had beaten Bulgaria. Italy
were ultimately eliminated on goal difference after Sweden and
Denmark drew 2-2. The Italians went so far as to accuse Sweden and
Denmark of fixing their match as both sides knew that a 2-2 result
would advance them both over Italy but UEFA disregarded such an
idea.[3]

The Czech Republic were only team to finish the groups stages
perfectly; they defeated Latvia, the Netherlands, and Germany. It
was another disappointing European campaign for Germany, which
failed to advance from the group stage once again. The Netherlands
claimed the runner-up place in Group D.

Quarter-finals and
semi-finals

In the first quarter-final between England and Portugal, the
English opened the scoring after only two minutes through Michael Owen.
Portugal's constant attacking pressure from then on resulted in Hélder
Postiga's 83rd minute equaliser. A controversial incident came
in the dying minutes when Sol Campbell appeared to have given
England the lead again, but his header was ruled out for a foul.
The sides exchanged goals in extra-time, sending the match to
penalty kicks and Portugal won 6-5; Portugal's goalkeeper Ricardo saved a
penalty from Darius Vassell and then scored the
winning goal.

The Greeks, meanwhile, continued to stun everybody. Firm
defensive play and an Angelos Charisteas goal on 65
minutes helped them defeat France 1-0 and send them through to the
semi-finals. This victory made Greece the first team to defeat both
the holders and the hosts in the same tournament. Sweden and the
Netherlands played out an exciting encounter but neither side could
find a breakthrough and the match ended goalless after extra-time.
The Dutch progressed after winning the penalty shootout 5-4, their
first ever victory on penalties. The last quarter-final saw the
Czechs dispatch Denmark as a two-goal effort from Milan Baroš helped
seal a 3-0 win.

Portugal and the Netherlands faced each other in the first
semi-final. Ronaldo put the hosts into the lead from a corner kick
midway through the first half and just before the hour mark a
spectacular goal from Maniche made it 2-0 for Portugal. An own goal
from Jorge
Andrade gave the Netherlands a glimmer of hope. Portugal came
close to scoring a third goal that was only stopped by Philip
Cocu's blocking attempt. The game ended 2-1 to Portugal and the
hosts, after their opening day failure, were through to the final
of their European Championship. The Czech Republic looked likely
candidates to face the hosts in the final but they would have to
see off the upstart Greeks to do so. The Czechs had several
chances, including a shot from Tomáš
Rosický that struck the bar. The game remained goalless until
the dying moments of the first half of extra-time when Traianos Dellas
headed home the winner, the first and only silver goal in a European Championship.

Final

Angelos Charisteas puts Greece 1–0 up in the final

The final was repeat of the opening game of the tournament and
Portugal were hoping to avenge their opening day loss. Portugal
furiously attacked and dominated the possession but once again,
sturdy defending and goalkeeping from Greece kept the Portuguese
hosts off the scoreboard. Just before the hour mark, Greece earned
a corner kick from which Angelos Charisteas scored. Portugal
continued to press after the goal but even with five minutes of
injury-time added, they could not find an equaliser. Greece won the
match 1–0 and were crowned as European champions, a title that they
were given a 150–1 chance [4] of
winning before the tournament.

Results

First
round

Tie-breaking criteria

For teams that finish level on points, the following
tie-breakers are used:[5]

greater number of points in the matches between the teams in
question;

greater goal difference in matches between the teams in
question;

greater number of goals scored in matches between the teams in
question;

greater goal difference in all group games;

greater number of goals scored in all group games;

higher coefficient derived from Euro 2004 and 2002
World Cup qualifiers (points obtained divided by number of matches
played);

fair play conduct in Euro 2004;

drawing of lots.

If two teams playing in the final group game have identical
records going into that match, and the match ends in a draw, then a
penalty
shootout would be played, rather than using the above criteria.
Euro 2004 marked the introduction of this procedure, although it
did not need to be used. The same procedure was also used at Euro 2008.

Knockout
stage

The knockout stage was a single-elimination
tournament involving the eight teams that qualified from the
group stage of the tournament. There were three rounds of matches,
with each round eliminating half of the teams entering that round.
The successive rounds were: Quarter-finals, Semi-finals, Final. For
each game in the knockout stage, a draw was followed by up to
thirty minutes of extra
time (two fifteen minute halves); if a team scored in the first
half of extra time and were still leading after 15 minutes extra
time, the team leading would win on a silver goal, if no player scored in the
first half of extra time, the full half-hour would be played. If
scores were still level after 30 minutes extra time there would be
a penalty
shootout (at least five penalties each, and more if necessary)
to determine who progressed to the next round.